Call on ADM to Commit to Zero Deforestation—in the Amazon and Elsewhere

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

Unprecedented fires are raging in the Amazon rainforest.¹

The Amazon, with its countless trees, is a vital stronghold in the fight against climate change. It’s also home to incredible wildlife like elusive, spotted jaguars.²

Tropical forests like the Amazon are too precious to lose, but more of them are being destroyed each day. Worldwide, deforestation claims a chunk of tropical forest the size of 40 football fields every single minute.³

Tropical forests are often destroyed to make way for soybeans traded and sold by the world’s largest agricultural companies.⁴ To save forests, we need agricultural companies to commit to sustainability.

Go to https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=34050 to join PennEnvironment and itsnational network in calling on ADM — a large, U.S.-based agricultural firm — to commit to zero deforestation in all of its supply chains by 2020.

The Amazon produces 20 percent of the planet’s oxygen. It’s the largest rainforest on Earth: A treasure trove of natural wonders that, once destroyed, can never be replaced.⁵

At a time when climate-fueled disasters like wildfires are becoming more common than ever, we simply can’t afford to keep cutting down these forests. ADM has an important part to play in the future of our planet’s forests, and therefore, a role in protecting the planet from climate change.

We can’t allow companies like ADM to produce more soybeans at the cost of our most important tropical ecosystems and the health of our planet. ADM has indicated that it is interested in cutting back on deforestation, and that the process of identifying at-risk areas is “in progress,” but we must reach zero deforestation faster if our forests are going to survive.⁶

Urge ADM to commit to zero deforestation by 2020 today.

Tropical deforestation is a big threat to the future of our climate, but it’s not the only one. That’s why PennEnvironment is also committed to moving the world toward a 100 percent renewable energy future, cleaning up our transportation system, and safeguarding our most important environmental regulations.

But securing commitments from big agricultural companies to stop deforestation is something we can do for the planet right now.

You can make a difference for the Amazon and tropical forests everywhere by sending a message to ADM now.

1. Jessie Yeung and Abel Alvarado, “Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is burning at a record rate, research center says,” CNN, August 21, 2019.
2. “Jaguar,” National Geographic, last accessed August 21, 2019.
3. Stephen Leahy, “Tropical Forest Loss Slowed in 2017–To the Second Worst Total Ever,” National Geographic, June 27, 2018.
4. Rebecca Smithers, “Vast animal-feed crops to satisfy our meat needs are destroying planet,” The Guardian, October 5, 2017.
5. Jessie Yeung and Abel Alvarado, “Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is burning at a record rate, research center says,” CNN, August 21, 2019.
6. “Progress on Sustainable Soy,” ADM, last accessed August 21, 2019.